As that well known song from the Sound of Music suggests, there is a time and a place and many ways to say good bye. For me, So Long Farewell seems appropriate as I near the end of my role as a TA Developer at the Centre for Teaching Excellence. (I will admit that the inspiration came from a recent outing to the musical in Toronto. And just in case you’re a bit concerned, let me assure you that I won’t use this blog to paraphrase the song, nor is there a YouTube video of me performing it.) Continue reading So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu . . . – Sheila Hannon
Category: About the Centre
Reflecting on our Registration System (Grad Students) – Darlene Radicioni
Fall is upon us again with a new cohort of graduate students. Welcome!
With one term now behind us, using our now, not-so-new registration system, I thought I’d reflect on it. First, all new students should make sure that they are connected to the myHRinfo system. This can be done through your department secretary. Those of you who have been at UW for a while should already be connected to it. Once you visit this site, you can see a list of all workshops that are offered by our Centre. Continue reading Reflecting on our Registration System (Grad Students) – Darlene Radicioni
Invest in People – Jane Holbrook
I’ve just returned from a conference jointly sponsored by CSSHE (Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education), COHERE (Collaboration for Online Higher Education and Research) and CHERD (Centre for Higher Education Research and Development). Its title was “The Future of Online and Blended Learning: Strategy, Policy, and Practice”. Along with Mary Power and Scott Anderson, I had the opportunity to learn about how blended and online learning are, or will be, supported and shaped by upper level policy decisions and through faculty development programs that are provided by teaching centres in universities and colleges across Canada.
I wanted to share my main take-away from the conference; invest in people.
Our grassroots approach to supporting blended learning at UW seems to be working as well, or better, than what is happening at other institutions. Rather than just applying large amounts of money to the development and ongoing support of a few “flagship” blended courses, or having pockets of course developers working in isolation in Schools or Faculties to develop programs of blended courses, UW provides support for the development of blended courses more broadly. Through CTE and ITMS (Instructional Technologies and Multimedia Services) there is support to design courses that represent a range of “blendedness” and that align with the discipline and objectives of instructors who choose to use online components in their courses. We do this through our CTE faculty liaisons and through my role as an instructional developer of blended learning, as well as through the technical support provided by the UW-ACE help team. These people are knowledgeable about teaching and learning, bring a range of expertise to the job and adapt their practices in response to the needs of the students at UW.
Mary and Scott presented a session called “One Model for Success: Supporting Blended Learning through Faculty Liaisons” where they shared how liaisons promote technological and pedagogical best practices together as “one stop shopping” when they consult with instructors and how the physical placement of the liaisons within the Faculties increases their visibility and accessibility and facilitates relationship building. They spoke about how they function as neutral and objective consultants within their Faculties and how, through their own networks, they can share what works well, and what doesn’t, in blended courses. They talked about how they collaborate with the folks at ITMS, work on technology-related committees and how their input promotes better decisions around UW’s support of technology.
Reactions from the audience? Many commented on how lucky we are to have this model, that this seemed really different from the strategies used on their campuses and how this approach must have involved some risk and vision on the part of our upper administrators.
Of course there are challenges. As Mary and Scott pointed out to the crowd, there is just too much work now. The liaisons have become victims of their own success. We are all struggling to continue to support this model and its original intent because as the number of blended courses grow and the number of faculty using UW-ACE increases we are strapped to provide the same levels of pedagogical consultation and support that we did when these (mostly part-time) roles were envisioned in 2001. My hope is that in this atmosphere of cut-backs and fiscal restraint that we can maintain this vision and even increase our support at the grassroots level, in people.
CTE and the 6th Decade Plan — Donna Ellis
I was recently asked to document how well CTE’s activities and services meet the university’s 6th Decade Plan. At first this seemed like a pretty straightforward task since there is only section in the Plan devoted specifically to teaching. And yet, as I re-read the Plan, I recognized that our work fits with numerous recommendations as well as the overall orientation of the Plan, which calls for “excellence, pursued and supported in all activities” (p.4). We are the “Centre for Teaching Excellence” and we take our name very seriously. We strive to model the highest standards in our programming, resources, and support services.
So how do we fit with the Plan? Naturally, we provide programming and support to help faculty members and graduate students develop “enhanced teaching skills” (p.6). But we do much, much more than that. Here’s a sampling…
- We support faculty members who want to commit to and demonstrate excellence in teaching through offering events like the Instructional Skills Workshop and the Teaching Excellence Academy where our own faculty members show leadership by co-facilitating.
- Our activities marry teaching and research through our own research work and that of the faculty and staff members in the Teaching-Based Research Group.
- We engage in innovation in teaching and support others in their quest to try new ideas with regard to teaching, whether they involve learning technologies or more traditional instructional methods.
- We also support the development of aligned, innovative curricula as we work with an increasing number of departments.
- We help to celebrate Waterloo’s great teachers through the university-wide teaching programs.
- We help provide great learning experiences for students by hiring them into our office, assisting with campus learning projects such as e-portfolios, and supporting internationalization efforts.
As well, we have an amazing team of staff members who think strategically, collaborate endlessly, and give 110% everyday to help support teaching excellence at Waterloo.
So the exercise of mapping our activities to the 6th Decade Plan clearly showed that we’re on the right track. But it also reminded me how proud I am to be part of something so good. As a support unit, we often downplay our contributions. I see that we really shouldn’t because we have a lot to offer. If you haven’t checked out how CTE can help you, please view our website, contact one of our Liaisons, or drop by one of our offices. We’re here to help!
Welcome from the new Admin Assistant – Shelley Bacik
My name is Shelley Bacik and I am the new Admin Assistant at the Centre for Teaching Excellence (replacing Marta Bailey, who has a new position with the Grad Studies Office). I am enjoying getting to know all of the great people at the CTE and am really looking forward to working with such a great team! I know it won’t be easy to replace Marta in this position as she certainly is admired by everyone here (including me for all the help she has given me in my first few weeks).
Please feel free to contact me for any questions you may have and I will be happy to help you out if I can even though I may still be in a learning curve for a while yet! Thank you to everyone at the CTE for making me feel welcome during these first few weeks!
Why do some students choose not attend tutorials?! – Walid Omran (International TA Developer)
When I was assigned my first duty as a TA in one of the electrical engineering courses, one term after arriving to Canada, I was keen to know more about Canadian students. Thus, I started asking other experienced TAs about undergraduate students and how to teach them effectively. One comment that I still remember until today and after being a TA for more than 6 courses was about the students’ attendance in the tutorials. Continue reading Why do some students choose not attend tutorials?! – Walid Omran (International TA Developer)
CTE launches new registration system – Trevor Holmes
In May 2009, timed to coincide with the launch of our new website, CTE began to use the centrally-supported Enterprise Learning Management system through Human Resources, just like the Safety Office before us, and other support units considering the same system on campus. You can use the self-service function in myHRinfo (not far from where you can see your paycheque and benefits!) to register yourself in most of our workshops and events. For specific instructions, click on the tab “Registration Procedures” from our CTE Events page. Continue reading CTE launches new registration system – Trevor Holmes